


Lost In Reality

by Jeldenil



Series: Discord Drabble Challenge [14]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Don't copy to other sites, Drarry Discord Writers Corner Drabble Challenge, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Snakes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2019-10-25
Packaged: 2021-01-02 23:13:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21169463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jeldenil/pseuds/Jeldenil
Summary: Draco needs help after the war. He doesn't count on his Mind Healer being a changed Harry Potter





	Lost In Reality

**Author's Note:**

> I have not given permission for this fic to be present on any App. I make no money out of this. Do not use applications to read this. Every fic on Ao3 can be downloaded to be read offline.  


Draco couldn't remember when he'd last felt like things were normal. It must have been somewhere in his third year at Hogwarts, maybe, before everything went pear-shaped. Nothing was as it should be anymore, and the way Draco felt about snakes was only a small part of it.

He'd come out of the War, rattled to his core. Like anyone would. It would probably be considered normal by people who called themselves experts. He'd seen his worldviews drastically changed and compromised. He'd witnessed horrors too grotesque to process. As a result of those, as one of the results, Draco was now deadly afraid of snakes. 

Which was a problem.

His room, his life, had always been filled with snake-shaped ornaments. He was a Slytherin, for crying out loud. It simply would not do to spend the rest of his life terrified of a part of his identity. He needed help.

Finding help proved to be another problem.

His name was put on a waiting list.

And his self-assigned mindhealer was Potter.

An oddly serene Potter. It wasn't right. How come the Boy Who Lived, the boy he'd seen return from Death, was this calm? It was like someone had taken his entire Gryffindor character, the one Draco was familiar with, that always responded to Draco with firy irritation, and replaced it with something reminiscent of a Muggle spiritualist.

"You don't have anything to be afraid of, Draco," the man who used to be Potter was saying in a voice that sounded ghost-like to Draco's ears. "Snakes are more afraid of you than you can ever be of them."

"Since when do you call me Draco?" 

"That's your name," Potter replied, and that was that.

He refused to address it. He acted like they hadn't been mortal enemies forever, which unnerved Draco more than the fact they were heading for a terrarium house.

Which was terrifying to begin with.

"You will only have to look at them from behind glass," Potter said, sensing Draco's reluctance. "Absolutely nothing can happen. You're perfectly safe."

“Easy for you to say,” Draco grumbled, a few steps behind Potter, entering the musty heat of the building. Draco was reminded of a tomb. “You can talk to them.”

“Not anymore,” Potter replied, simultaneously simple and vague.

Draco, having nothing to lose, grabbed his arm. “Keep me safe, Harry,” he pleaded.  
As Potter drew in a sharp breath, something finally felt familiar.


End file.
